The talk in Washington and around the country is about the development of “green jobs” within a “green economy.” Green jobs mean something different to whomever is using the term. Trying to find a consistent definition was fruitless, so it’s instructive to apply some framework around the topic.

The U.S. Census Bureau’s North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) of job categories identifies and codifies job descriptions (www.census.gov). These job descriptions are widely used in demographic surveys to quantify the number of jobs in a given sector. However, the job codes relate to the task and not the intent of the task. For example, growing corn for ethanol production would be in the “Crop Production” (Code 111) descriptor under the “Agriculture” (Code 11) descriptor. Ethanol production would be under the Ethyl Alcohol Manufacturing (Code 325193) descriptor. None of these codes relate to the greenness of the job.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been studying the topic for several years and has produced the UNEP Paper on Green Jobs (www.unep.org). UNEP defines green jobs as “… positions in agriculture, manufacturing, R&D, administrative, and service activities aimed at alleviating the myriad environmental threats faced by humanity. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect and restore ecosystems and biodiversity, reduce energy consumption, decarbonizes the economy, and minimize or altogether avoid the generation of all forms of waste and pollution.” The UNEP definition puts green jobs in the framework of employment related to mitigating climate change.

Guidebook a good reference
The Environmental Defense Fund has built on the climate change framework and published a Green Jobs Guidebook (www.edf.org/cagreenjobs). The guidebook, authored in conjunction with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, summarizes green jobs in California. The Green Jobs Guidebook identifies 12 green job industry segments, associated definitions, and identifies over 200 separate green job categories. The guidebook focuses on green technologies and related jobs. For example, the farm worker involved in biofuel production (Category 150, Agricultural/Farm worker) is listed, and the Biomass Power category lists the biomass plant operator, engineer and maintenance workers as green jobs (Category 67). The book further gives salary ranges for the different jobs. Clearly this guidebook is a good reference for the categorization of green jobs.

Others have taken a different tact on defining a green job, putting the definition in a perspective of a “green collar” job. Green Career Central (www.greencareercentral.com) has made a distinction:

• A green job is one that helps the environment.
• A green collar job is one that is good for the worker and the environment.

Thus the distinction that a green job should be a valued job that considers the worker as well as the job. Green Career Central further goes on to say that: “A job that does something for the planet, and little to nothing for the people or the economy, is not a green collar job.” In addition, green collar jobs are more likely to require some new skills and training, tend to be local, and strengthen urban and rural communities—as well as help the environment.

Much of the rhetoric in Washington emphasizes this focus on the worker and the value of the job. Consequently, the agricultural worker who works on an organic farm or harvests corn for ethanol is not in a green job if the working conditions are poor. On the other hand, a technician receiving an appropriate wage, who is weatherizing low income housing in Chicago, would count as a green job. But who decides? In the context of political and social measurement and metrics, it remains an open question as to how green jobs will be counted.

So, what are green jobs? The definition will become refined and focused in the upcoming months and years, but for now perhaps it is fruitful to think of green jobs in the framework of “good jobs that already exist, or are created, in fields that focus on mitigating or managing climate change impacts.” Specific categories and definitions using the Green Jobs Guidebook as a framework are a good starting point from which to build a more robust definition.

Ken Kastman, P.E., is a vice president and senior principal engineer with URS Corp., Chicago